Soles for Kids: AfG Youth Giving Back

Children living in poverty lack many of life's most basic necessities, including a good pair of shoes. Three Allowance for Good youth chose to tackle this issue and give more children across the world the comfort of a good pair of shoes.

Charlie, Danny, and Tim participated in Allowance for Good's Fall 2015 Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy class in the Elmhurst location.

After their participation in the ELP program, Charlie, Danny, and Tim decided to start their own project - a shoe drive for Soles for Kids. Soles for Kids is an incredible charity that collects used, not abused, shoes and soccer balls to distribute to children worldwide. They have distributed shoes to children in need in Africa, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and the United States.

The three AfG youth organized a shoe donation drive at York High School during a basketball game, where they collected 72 pairs of shoes. They also raised $75 to put towards shipping costs.

All the shoes they collected were given to Soles for Kids and sent to children in Tanzania. These young men acted as agents of change in their community, and their efforts will have significant effects far from their homes. Allowance for Good is proud to see them serving as global citizens and making a difference in the lives of many children.

If interested in running your own shoe drive, you can find more information about donating to Soles for Kids here.

Creating Local Change through Community Foundations

By: Ben

Ben is participating in Allowance for Good's Spring 2016 Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy class in the Elmhurst location.

"I am a Catalyst for Good because...everyone deserves to be treated with respect." - Ben

What is a community foundation? What did you learn about the DuPage Foundation from Barb Szczepaniak? What did you learn about DuPage County that surprised you? How did the activity help you understand the grant making process? How can you help your community thrive? 

I learned from Barb Szczepaniak that a community foundation organizes and gives out grants to organizations aimed to help the less fortunate. Barb taught us many things about how her committee gets together and decides how much to donate to certain organizations who reached out for money, and how much of their demand they are willing to pay. I was very surprised to learn that the federal poverty level is 20,000 a year but a typical family needs a bare minimum of 63,000 a year to just get by. And I learned that that is where Barb aims to help out, the gap in between.

The activity made me understand how difficult the grant making process could be for those deciding where the money goes to. I learned that by donating to the community foundation I can make a difference by giving the people in the grant process able to give more money to more organizations in need of financial support. By doing this I can focus on helping, and focusing on making change in my own community.

Lessons in Philanthropy: Types of Foundations

By: Nathaniel

Nathaniel is a participant in Allowance for Good's Spring 2016 Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy class in the Evanston location.

The ELP Evanston class sharing why they are Catalysts for Good.

My name is Nathaniel in the AfG Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy, and I will talk to you to say about community foundations. Foundations are non profits. A non profit is a establishment not for profit. There are many foundations such community foundation which I will be covering today, corporate foundation, family foundation, independent foundation, operating foundation, and a private foundation.

"I am a Catalyst for Good because... I will save endangered puppies and animals." - Nathaniel

A community foundation is a organization that helps a certain community or a religion. Money is taken from endowments and uses to make grants that will sever the community. I was surprised that the Bill and the Melinda Gates wasn't a family foundation but instead a private foundation because the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a non governmental, non profit dedicated to help people and making scholarships and grants to people and companies that will help/change  the world. The activity  taught me the grant making process how people applied for grants and how companies divides and then decides to pay the full grant or pay for a part of the grant or veto the grant entirely. Evanston has a community foundation called The Evanston Community Foundation or ECF for short. Evanston can thrive by making grants to certain people or companies that are dedicated to Evanston and its people.These people and companies can sponsor activities that help the community by cleaning up the streets or doing a bake sale that the money is donated to Evanston. That money can be used to fixed the parks in Evanston, make sure that public spaces are a safe environment, clean up the neighborhoods around ETHS. There is a lot to do to help Evanston thrive, but it will happen and Evanston will remain to be a great suburb.

Rising Up: Hearing from the Next Generation of Changemakers

By: Natalie

Natalie, a 7th grader at Haven Middle School, is a participant in Allowance for Good's 2016 Spring Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy class in the Evanston location. 

The Evanston ELP class engaged in an activity.

How have you been a philanthropist in the past and how do you envision being one in the future? 

I feel very lucky that since fourth grade I have been a part of the Justin Wynn Leadership Academy. As a part of this, I have had the chance to do a lot of community service. In the past couple of years I have done many soup kitchens, volunteered at a retirement home, worked at a basketball tournament where the money goes to a good cause, and I have made holiday cards for kids in hospitals. In the future, I do see myself doing more but also for bigger causes. I am passionate about the issue of helping people in need. I believe that everyone should have their necessary daily needs met. For example, I have helped with food drives that go to people that don't have enough food. In the future I hope to help build homes for low income families. I can see myself not only helping the Evanston community but also helping others around the world. 

The Evanston ELP class listens carefully.

Allow Good: Engaging High School Students in Philanthropy

By: Rachel
Rachel is on the leadership team for Northwestern University's chapter of Allow Good. 

Allow Good teacher engages students at the first class at YOU.

"Not only do millennials lack the kind of empathy that allows them to feel concerned for others, but they also have trouble even intellectually understanding others' points of view," reported Time magazine writer Joel Stein in 2013. In his article, Stein accused millennials of having the lowest generational dedication to civic engagement but the highest rates of narcissism as the so-called "Me, Me, Me Generation." However, I feel this increasingly popular narrow mindset mislabels individuals as self-absorbed when in actuality many are empathetic and engaged and those who are uninvolved in their community simply are not presented with adequate accessible volunteer opportunities. The issue of disengaged youth greatly motivated myself and a group of my Northwestern peers to work with Allowance for Good in producing a high school program teaching students about philanthropy through a civic engagement and social justice lens. We felt high schoolers deserved a chance to be treated as competent young-adults, educated about their local non-profits, and then given the resources and skills to responsibly give $1000 back to their community.

The idea for this curriculum stemmed from a spring course my project partner, Imani Wilson, and I took at Northwestern called the Philanthropy Lab. We spent the course learning about the history of philanthropy, how to evaluate non-profits, and meeting with potential grantees to receive a portion of our class grant of $100,000, which was sponsored through the Once Upon a Time Foundation (OUTF). We worked on the class's Child and Youth Development Team and in the end granted $20,000 to Girls in the Game (GiG), a local Chicago organization that encourages girls to use sports to improve self-esteem and reinforce healthy lifestyles. Once the class ended, OUTF encouraged students in our class to apply for their Changemakers Grant of $5,000 to sponsor any project that would educate students about philanthropy.

Rachel, at the Allow Good teacher training

Shortly after, we were put in contact with Allowance for Good and discussed our vision of an adaptation of our philanthropy lab class taught to high schoolers by Northwestern students. Soon after filling out paperwork, we received the $5,000 grant and quickly found two more NU students, Fannie and Matt, to join the project as credit for our Civic Engagement Certificate non-profit internship class. Fall quarter, we worked tirelessly to create a pilot program with 14 lesson plans lasting 45 minutes each including a detailed teacher's manual. Last week, we spent 6 hours training teachers in philanthropy education and classroom facilitation strategies. Now, I am happy to announce that our first day of classes will launch last week at Niles North High School and Evanston Township High School's after-school program called Y.O.U.

Reflecting on the past few months, I believe the best part of working on the project has been seeing the assets of my team come together. Fannie joined the team with expertise in philanthropy curriculum development. As a passionate social justice advocate on campus, Matt brought a wealth of knowledge on teaching students about current inequality issues. And, Imani's ability to pay close attention to detail and insistence on meeting deadlines helped our group stay on pace. With their contributions, the curriculum and camaraderie among group members has surpassed anything I originally imagined.

Looking to the future, I can't wait to see the impact of the curriculum on high school students. Once presented with the opportunity to learn and give back, I am confident that these students will rise to the occasion and erase any association with the so-called "Me, Me, Me Generation."